Karaoke Forums

Hi Everyone!

Can somebody please help me? I have been involved in Karaoke (mostly for a past time) since 1990 and am seeing all this new technology pop up. I still only use Laserdisc and DVD, VCD.

In your honest opinion, how do you find CDG, MP3 ect. How would I get something like that to work on my home sound system? I noticed that the songs are plentiful in those formats but am not sure what I need to start using the newer technology. My husband and daughter really like the DVD and Laserdisc format because of the cheesy videos but I want the better selection of songs. Or, do you know a place who sells the new songs in DVD format. HELP!

Thanks!!

Tammia

Sound Choice, Chartbuster, SingToTheWorld, Top Hits Monthly and I THINK Pop Hits Monthly all sell their stuff with DVD. HOWEVER, the cheesy videos are only with the discontinued Pioneer, and foreign (asian) releases... I don't know of ONE single current manufacturer that is releasing NEW dvds that is putting them with videos.

Almost all the DVDs being released nowadays have no videos.

The advantage to the DVD market is they play on a standard dvd machine! So for $40 and on up, you can enjoy karaoke...

Of course, you also get what you pay for. With a standard DVD machine, you mostly won't get microphone inputs, digital echo, etc.... But if you are using it as a player only and playing thru a home stereo/amp/mixer setup... you'll have all that with the additional equipment.

CDG is what most things are released in as a standard. To date, there isn't a manufacter that's releasing tracks (as a standard) in MP3G OR DVD.

Matt

There are plenty of people making DVD discs with new songs on them. I have two and as soon as I get most of the songs replaced I'll be pulling them from my selection. For home use they're ok, but they take far too long to cue for a show (doesn't sound like you'd have this problem though).

Ok, basically CD+G is an audio disc with a seperate track (sub-code) for the graphics. It requires a special player to read the sub-code information- however, there are some DVD players that can read the graphics and they will be marked as such (look on the side where it says DVD/VCD/MP3//CD etc and it will say CD+G). Keep in mind that these DVD players are not real common in most retail stores in the US, but they are out there. Remember, CD+G and MP+G don't usually have any videos.

MP3+G is a format that's used largely on computers for playback, however, a company called CAVS has two different players that use a variation of MP3+G. Of these two players, the CAVS-99 stores the CD+G information locally on a hard drive and you can playback any song from the hard drive or from CD+G's. The CAVS-202 plays a format called SCD+G which is basically a DVD disc that has a large number of songs in a derivative of the MP3+G format (it's propriatary to CAVS). The CAVS-202G will play both CD+G, DVD, and other formats as well.

There are a number of opinions on equipment regarding quality and feature set. For your use I'd probably consider the CAV-202 (does DVD/VCD as well) or the single player JVC 202 (does NOT do DVD, but should play VCD) for your use. The player varies in price from about $200-$350 online.

While there are a couple vendors that have a reputation for making higher quality CD+G discs (Sound Choice, Music Maestro, Priddis, perhaps others) for home use the Karaoke Bay and Party Tyme discs you find at most major outlets would be inexpensive and acceptable for use at home.